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Show 5G Ex. Doc. No. 41. had pitvhrd onr new ramp Lirutcnant In gall came up with a mail, an d gave the .plca ant information that the sad ~lcs were on ly about six hours brhind. October 14 .-\V e parted with our wagons, which were sent hack under dung ' of L ieu t r nan t lnga lis, and, in doing . o, every man sccme<-1 to be great ly r ·lie 1·cd. With me it was far otherwi se . My ch ron o Ill etr rs and b aromct C'r, which before rod" o ... af 1 y, were now in constant danger. TlH' trip of a mule might de. troy the whole. The ch ron ometers, too, were of the largt'sl s ize, un suit e1l to ca rry time on fool or horseback. A ll my ende:-n ors, in the ~4. hours a II owed me in \Vashington to pro cure a poe kct ehron om etcr, had failed. l saw th en, what I now feel, the superiority of pocket over large ehronometers for expeditions on fool or horseback. The v iamcter for measuring di stanct:s, lH·retofore attached to the wheel of the in strum ent wagon, was now attached to the wheel of one of the .mall rnountain howilz{.;rs . 'I'!1e valley ~arrow in to a ca11on at llush peak, and oprns again a nnle or so w1de, where we enrampcu for the ni g ht. Urowth of to- day mu ·h the same as yeRtcrday. B u s h p e a lc i ~ , on i t s r i " t· fa c c , a s t e c p e s c a r p m en t o f b a sa 1 t , an d a b rea . l o f it , on t h c wet; l s i d c of the r i v c· r, w c saw many ·hips of metalliferous limr -lonc. T o- da y, m<•t a solitary Mt'Xican mounte1l on a mule, driving bPfor<' him a horse, with his back literally skinned with the sa ddl e. He was beating· the po or b east over the gall r d place . The Mexican.· g n erally treat their l10rs 'Sand mules in a barbarou: manner, riding an<l packing them 'vhen their back::; are run1.1ing with . ores. OctobeT 15.-Aflcr traY lling three and a ha.If milef;, we turne<l off from the Del Norte and took !ina] leave of it at a pretty little g~~ve , where we fouud tv.-o l\lexicans rdqrning from a trading c ' peOILion to the Apaches. They wrre attending a poor ·worn out j enn et, (that had be en maltrea t ed an<l overtasked,) in t he hope t hat a few days' rest would enable it to take their lazy bodies to the settl ements. At this point, several intelligent gui <lcs wr.re <leta(·hrcl to look up a road further outh, by whi ·l1 Captain Cook who is to follow us with the 1\tfon~ons, may tu rn the mountains with his wagons. «· . ~fter mounting to the table land , some 200 feel ahovc the vallry, 1l 1s v e r~ level, ex ept \\~her e the table l~tnd i · indented by the streams Jro~n the m~untalll s, mo. l of whtch ar' now d ry. We passed two 111 sucre . Ion, both deep ancl wide eno urrh to contain all the water of thr Missi . ipp i, ;1nd pre. cn ting the a 1~p<'<ll'ance of the desrrlell bed of once large and turbul ent rivrrs. The ueds were pavr.cl with large round pchbJc., mostly of the red fel<lspathic grant tt'. On the t a1le land .the winter g rama (a more delicate g rass than summer grama)was 1~ great abundance, bnt now dry and sun burnt. The other growth n ?t1cec.l to.-day <'On is ted. ~f mal va, sen eio long i] ob.us, small mezq Uite, fr ax1nus, (a ·h,) difl erenl from any in the Umted State ; cast ill cja and dat ura. • 'i'he route followcu by Colc.ncl Cooke will bo fount! tra.ood on tho m~ Ex. Doc. No. 41. 57 Far off to thr south, betw en th peak!:~ of two high monntainc:, s1retehcd the ta ble land coutignotJH to the Yalley of the Del Norte. For the first tim e :-;inrc' ]raving tltc Arkansas tbe mirngc wa sen, and gaYe the wide. open~t~ g th ~ app<>arnn<'e of ~ f.h ·et of wat 'r disturbed by the wwd. lwo chstnnl p<·aks loonllnp; up looked, for all tl!e world, like a fore nnd-aft-s<'hoont'r. As 1 was observing tl1 is my m u 1 ~ c n m c 1 o n hal t a t t h ' (' d ~ e of a s l<· c p precipice . ]3 <'I ow w • r c g r r en t r e s an d 1 u xu ria n l f o I i il g <', the sur c in d ira t ion of water. T!~e strenm waf; clear, Jimpid, and cool, tl1e first, but one, I h a1l . cen s ince eros, ing th(• A ll<'g:1Janil's, '" ht>rc wnl •r could be drunk without imh iuing a due proport ion of mud a11d sand . lls namr, Paloma, (Pigeon creek.) In the v<dlcy p;rows cotton wood, a new variety of eYcrgrccn oak, with 1 ave· like the holly, a new variety of af'h, <uul a new kind of hlat:k walnut, wiJh fruit about half the size of ours. The oak was covered with round re1l balls, the size aud color of apricots-the effects of disease or the stin~ of an in ·eel. Four miles further brought us to another ere 'k of cl 'ar \Yater, runninrr slurrg ishly, and like the last the siJr.c of a man'. wail. In it valley "::'·re many large trees, uprooted, presenting the Clppearance of new groun d. . · On the plains and in the dry valleys w ere many rare specunrns of cl,alccdony . The only living thing se n was a small rattlc. nake, the first si nee we left V cgas, of the izc and mark of the sma ll prairie nake, but of reddish hue, like that of the grounll it inhabited. Observed t o-n ight fnr la titude and longitude; our height was (approximately) 4,810 feel above th e sea. October IG.-\V commenced t he approach to the l\fimbre mountains over a bcatltif'ul rolling country, traver ·ed hy ·mall stream s 0 r p u r e w at r' r r j n g e d w i t h a t \1 n t c d g r 0 ,~, l h 0 [ w a 1 n ll t ' 1i v e oak an1l ash. The soil in the valleys and to the lull tops of lh<' best quality, covered with a lux uriant growth of ~nnna, a spcc_ies of.cntriana diiTe rinrr from the larg grama . Nollung hut nun 1 rcqutrccl t o m a k ' t h i 1~ a r l 0 f l h c co un t r y i n h a b i t a b l P T h c r e \V c r e s · v e rc:tl new and b eaut iful varieties of cart u and the entamario (tes. aica bore a 1 is) d i otis l n n <\. t a in g rca t l u xu ria n <' c; one a miniature t r c e, with the stalk six inches in dinmel r, a new sprcies of di eteria like an a -·ter, with fwc purple flowers; aster hebc cla tlus and three leaved barb(•rry (b crberi l ri foliolata.) This must one day become a gr at rr razing country, particularly for sheep . The pure dry air is emine ntly a.dapte(lto th em, and th.cy arc said to be in al l New Mexico very prol ific, an ewe seldom fad ing to drop two lambs. Octobe1· 17.-Wc as<.:en1·led from the stream, on which we were en eam p cd, by a .n a.rro w valley fo r 2 ~ hours b efo r(' rea ch it~ g the summit b ·tween it a1Hl the J\limbrcs, whi ·h was so indi tlllct l~1at I p~sscd it seve ra l miles before disco rcring it. We descended w an a rroyo towar<ls the Rio 1\IIimbrrs, v ry narro~v, and ft.tl] of haltered pit ·h tone; the id<•s nnd bank CO \ t'red w1th a tl~t c k p:~owth of stunted li e oak . ln full view, nearly the whole t1mc oi our de- |